Harry Potter and Twilight are two of the biggest movie franchises ever created, each capturing young audiences’ imaginations and growing up alongside them. In 2011, the Harry Potter saga reached its ultimate conclusion, with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) finally settling the score with arch enemy Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) in Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows pt2. A year later and Twilight also drew to a close. Its final installment was Twilight Breaking Dawn pt2, which saw Bella (Kristen Stewart) awaken as a vampire and a mother to face the renewed wrath of the Volturi. But which of these films was most successful? Which could be said to have concluded the epic narrative it was part of with a healthier box office performance?

In Australia, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows pt2 came out on top, with $51.3 million in box office sales. That’s a figure that dwarfed Twilight Breaking Dawn pt2’s equivalent takings of $7.3 million. When you look at the bigger picture, the same is true. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows pt2 once again leaves its fantasy film rival in the shade, taking $1.34 billion in box office sales, compared to Twilight Breaking Dawn pt2’s $829.7 million.

The two studios behind these movies are Lionsgate (Twilight Breaking Dawn pt2) and Warner Bros (Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows pt2). Taking a look at how these figures form part of the studios’ overall performance, it seems that the wider perspective reflects the individual films’ respective successes. For example, Warner Bros total gross was $4.52 billion to Lionsgate’s $2.83 billion, while company profit compares as $5.8 billion (Warner Bros) to $179 million (Lionsgate). However, CFD trading company IG have observed, one important element of films’ performance is how they impact their studio’s share price. In the seven days after Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows pt2 was released, Warner Bros’s share performance price increased by a respectable 0.9%. By contrast, Lionsgate’s share price in the seven-day period after Twilight Breaking Dawn pt2 hit the movie theatres rose by a much more impressive 4%.

When it comes to the two final films of the franchises, however, it’s clear that Harry Potter comes out on top, beating its rival in most measures, from total gross to box office ranking. Likewise, it is Warner Bros, the Harry Potter studio that ultimately wins the day. Warner Bros’s $35.8 billion market cap leaves Lionsgate’s $5.8 billion lagging far behind, and its average gross across all films is $4.52 to Lionsgate’s $2.83. However, it must be acknowledged that when it comes to raising share prices, Lionsgate comes into its own with incredible growth of 95.6% compared to Warner Bros’s relatively modest 11.9%.